The politician set to become Brazil’s new environment minister has paid tribute to slain British journalist Dom Phillips and said the incoming government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will fight to honor the memory of the rainforest martyrs killed trying to safeguard the ‘Amazonia.
Speaking to the Guardian after Lula’s historic election victory this Sunday, Marina Silva said Brazil now has the chance to build “a new democratic ecosystem” in which conservation, sustainability and the climate crisis will take center stage. after Jair Bolsonaro’s era of Amazon destruction.
“It is very sad to know that many people who have dreamed of this moment and fought for this moment are no longer here. That’s what’s behind this great effort to honor them,” said Silva, an Amazonian-born environmentalist who served as Lula’s environment minister from 2003 to 2008 and was recently elected to Congress .
Silva paid tribute to Phillips and Brazilian indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, who were killed in the Amazon in June, a crime that shocked the world and exposed the environmental catastrophe that occurred under Bolsonaro.
“This is a long-standing struggle and, unfortunately, Chico Mendes, sister Dorothy [Stang]Dom Phillips, Bruno and all who have fallen as part of this fight [are no longer with us],” said Silva, who also paid tribute to indigenous and environmental activists killed during Bolsonaro’s four-year administration.
In his first speech as president-elect, Lula pledged to make the environment one of his government’s top priorities, telling reporters: “We will fight for zero deforestation in the Amazon.”
Lula, who managed to drastically reduce deforestation during his two-term government, said Brazil would once again play a leading role in the fight against the climate crisis and was open to international collaboration to protect its environment environment
On Sunday, Norway’s environment minister said the Amazon Fund, a billion-dollar international pot designed to support Amazon protection efforts, would be reactivated, after being frozen as a result of the “frontal collision with Bolsonaro” over deforestation.
Lula is expected to send a high-level delegation to next month’s Cop27 climate summit in Egypt.
“Brazil and the planet need the Amazon alive,” Lula told reporters, vowing to crack down on illegal mining, logging and ranching. “A standing tree is worth more than tons of wood illegally extracted by those who only think of easy profits.”
“When an indigenous child is killed because of the greed of environmental predators, a part of humanity also dies,” Lula added.
Marina Silva, who was born in a remote rubber tap community in the Amazonian state of Acre, said the pledges were “a matter of honoring all the legacies and memories of all those who have lost their lives , so that Brazil can be a democratic country that fights inequality in a sustainable way”.
Marcio Astrini, the head of an NGO umbrella group called Observatori del Clima, said he was encouraged by Lula’s message.
“This is the first time I’ve heard a president-elect talk about ending deforestation in the Amazon. He didn’t need to do this if he wasn’t convinced it was possible,” Astrini said. “I think he’s really convinced that the environmental agenda is something that must be treated as a priority in his government.”
Astrini admitted that the Amazon’s problems would not disappear overnight. Deforestation figures, which have risen dramatically under Bolsonaro, were unlikely to fall significantly next year because of the rotten “legacy” left by the right-wing incumbent.
The destruction of the Amazon has exploded before the election, as environmental criminals raced to raze the rainforest before Bolsonaro lost power. An area almost the size of Greater London was lost last month alone.
“But you have to start somewhere,” Astrini said. “The next four years will be a window of opportunity to restore what has been ruined and build a consensus so that we never again witness … the same kind of destruction.”